Remus Lupin: The Missing Years
by MovieFan747
Summary: What happened with Lupin between the Potters' deaths and his arrival at Hogwarts? This is my take on it.
1. Chapter One

Remus Lupin: The Missing Years

Chapter One

As Remus Lupin collapsed in a chair, he felt his world as he knew it do the same. Images flashed through his brain at a rapid pace, and he stuffed his fingers in his ears, trying to shut out the rushing sound he heard. His life had never been a picnic. No sir, it certainly was not. But there was one thing that had made it bearable, even fun: his best friends.

James Potter had been one of the first people he met at Hogwarts in his first year. They were in the same room in Gryffindor, and James' snitch had awoken him very early on their first morning. It had gotten loose from James' trunk, and after fifteen minutes of chasing it around the dorm, they had become friends. James was by far his most athletic friend, and never seemed to mind getting into trouble. James was passionate about three things: Quidditch, pranks, and Lily Evans.

He was then introduced to James' best friend, Sirius Black. Sirius was surely the most handsome boy in Gryffindor, including the older students. Of course, he knew Sirius was aware of his good looks, but it never seemed to affect Sirius. Sirius was a loyal, true friend, and was even more mischievous than James. He had spent one whole afternoon in their second year creating a potion that, when added to someone's (in this case, Severus Snape's) drink, would make Snape's hair blink red and gold for two whole weeks. In Sirius' mind, if you were his friend, he would defend you till the end of time. If you weren't, well, watch out.

The three boys spent almost all their time together, and another boy, Peter Pettigrew, tagged along. Peter was a plump boy with straw-blond hair and very pink cheeks. At first, Peter's constant praise was annoying (he ended up wearing out the back of James' shoes by walking so close to his heels), but after awhile, it became as natural as the morning owl post. Peter wasn't a very extraordinary boy; he wasn't a genius, nor a superstar athlete, nor incredibly handsome. He was just Peter. And, strangely enough, he balanced his friends out.

By the beginning of their second year, they had played more pranks than Hogwarts had ever seen, and were secretly referred to as the Marauders by many of the Gryffindor house. All four boys liked that name. They continued to use it, even after graduation. Later on in their second year, Remus had told his best friends something he had never told anyone else: he was a werewolf. He had put off telling them sooner because, before coming to Hogwarts, he was friendless, and he didn't want to end up that way once again. But James, Sirius, and Peter couldn't help but notice Remus' monthly disappearances, and they just didn't believe his story about visiting his sick mum. In their fifth year, they surprised Remus by learning how to become animagi, and their nicknames were born: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. 

But none of this mattered anymore. Because two of Lupin's friends were dead, and the other was in jail for murder. And it all happened in a matter of hours.

Remus' hand trembled as he reread the letter Professor Dumbledore had sent him by express owl:

Remus,

You have undoubtedly heard of what has befallen your best friends by now. I must, first of all, extend my greatest sympathy towards you. James and Peter were good men, and the wizarding world will truly miss their presences. And as for Sirius, well... he was also a good man. A good man that made some wrong decisions. 

I do not want to leave you alone in this difficult time. I extend an invitation to you to come see me at Hogwarts. I want to speak with you, and perhaps we can help each other a little.

Sincerely, Professor Dumbledore

Remus crumpled the letter and whipped it into a dark corner of his three-room house. He had not bothered to light any candles, save for the one beside the chair in which he sat. What was the point? His heart was shrouded in darkness; his eyes might as well be, too.

He would not go and see Professor Dumbledore. Dumbledore was an amazing man, and he had always helped Remus. But now, standing in the ruins of what was once his life, Remus simply couldn't see how Dumbledore could help him this time. What could he do? They could sit, have tea, and discuss the tragic events of the past night. Why on earth would Remus want to relive such horrors? No, Dumbledore would not be able to help him. Staying here, in his tiny London home, would not help him. He needed out.

Remus tore into the bedroom and threw several articles of clothing, a book, and a sackful of galleons into a bag. He crossed quickly through the rest of his house and out the front door, not bothering to extinguish the forgotten candle. Remus Lupin needed out. Out of his house, out of London, out of his previous life.

And out he got. 


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Remus sat down on the curb outside his house. The street around him was dark and deserted. It was still about a week to the full moon, so he didn't have to worry about being around wizards - yet. He had to admit, his rage was a little unethical, and quite unlike him. In their group of four, he had always been the calm, rational one. A surge of anger rose in his throat once more. There was no group of four. Not anymore.

Now, to business. He couldn't help being businesslike at a time like this - it was in his blood. On his mother's side, he believed. But that wasn't important. Where was he going to go? He needed to be somewhere that was all-wizard (he couldn't risk biting a muggle in his werewolf state) but he didn't want to be found. So basically, Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley were both out. Where was another all-wizard village somewhere in Europe? He needed a place where neither Dumbledore nor his parents would every think to contact him.

Then it hit him. He could go stay in Hogsmeade, but nobody would recognize him if he had a disguise! What could he do to disguise himself? He didn't want to dye his hair - he liked it. It was a nice light brown that tended to flop ever-so-annoyingly into his eyes. Although some girls, like Lily, had said it made him look rather mysterious...

Remus all of a sudden felt like kicking himself. Lily! She had, of course, been with James when You-Know-Who had turned up at their flat. He supposed that she, too, was... oh, GOD. He hadn't even thought of her, he was so absorbed in his best friends. But he had come to regard her as one of them as well - she and James had been dating for three years before they married.. Remus had always thought of them as the perfect couple, and couldn't fathom them being with anyone but each other. He had always secretly longed to be in a relationship as close-knit as theirs, but unfortunately, he seemed to have slight commitment issues. It probably had something to do with his being a werewolf.

And then Lily and James had a son, Harry. He was the spitting image of his father - well, what his father would have looked like was he only half a metre tall, that is. Except for his eyes. Lily's beautiful green eyes shone in place of where James' normal blue ones would have been. Remus was certain this boy was going to be popular when he reached Hogwarts age.

If he had. What if You-Know-Who had killed Harry, too? That would be extremely tragic. The boy was barely a year old. Remus couldn't sit there any longer. He had to go and see if Harry was alive! Remus stood up so quickly he startled a gray cat that was strolling by. The cat meowed loudly and took off down the road. He payed no attention to her. Instead, he strode quickly to the curb with his suitcase, stuck out his wand arm, and waited. Just as he knew it would, a purple triple-decker bus appeared out of nowhere in front of him. A stout, bald man hopped down the steps of the bus.

"Hello, welcome to the Knight Bus. I'm your conductor, Lawrence -"

"Yeah, yeah, we've met before," Remus replied shortly. He pushed past Lawrence the conductor and started up the steps. "Godric's Hollow, please. As fast as you can possibly get me there."

****************************************************** 

Remus stepped off the Knight bus several minutes later. He stood at the side of the road, gazing at the shambles in front of him. Lily and James' house was positively squashed. No, squashed wasn't the word for it - it was obliterated into a million pieces. Parts of the roof lay twenty feet away, and what looked like a bathtub was lying forlornly in across-the-road's front lawn. It was evident that no people survived this.

He stepped gingerly around various pipes and bricks, until he was standing in the middle of the squashed house. He sighed. James and Lily hadn't lived in Godric's Hollow for long (they had moved there only to flee You-Know-Who a mere two weeks prior) but they had held a quiet housewarming party and were perfectly content with their small flat. Then again, they seemed to be content with anything, as long as they were together.

Then Remus noticed something, half-hidden by a scorched curtain. He knelt down and picked it up. A small band of gold glinted in the light of the half moon. On the inside, he could see two initials engraved into it. J.P. James' wedding band. Remus clutched the band inside his fist and began to do something very uncharacteristic for him. He screamed.

"Noooooooo! James! Lily! Harry!"

And as his voice echoed down the road, as empty and hurting as Remus' heart, tears slowly pooled and ran down his cheeks.


	3. Author's Note

Author's Note:

I just realized I forgot to put a Disclaimer on this thing! I'll just put it in here, and then it will go for all the chapters.

DISCLAIMER: The characters in this story do not belong to me. All except Barber Bartholomew, Lucas the candy store owner, and Karina belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. I am not J.K. Rowling (although I'm sure you already knew that). I'm just borrowing her characters for a bit of fun.

Woo-hoo, two reviews! *does happy dance*

Emiliana: Lupin's my fave character too! Thanks so much for being my first reviewer!

Gabriela13: I'm glad you like my story. The title was actually thought up by someone on the Harry Potter thread at Forums 4 Fans, and I just took it from there.

**Please review (no flames; this is my first story!). Constructive criticism is always great, though. The more reviews I get, the faster I'll write!** 


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Remus stepped off the Knight Bus and looked around. He was back in Hogsmeade. He hadn't, in fact, been there since his seventh year. All right. Step one. Disguise himself.

He approached Barber Bartholomew's, located on a side street near The Hog's Head. Stepping inside, he expected to hear a bell tinkle softly. Surprisingly, a loud, croaky "Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!" came from a corner. Remus jumped. 

"Sorry about that, mate," said a man, stepping away from a barber's chair. He was tall with a blond goatee and brownish blond hair. Remus could only assume this was Barber Bartholomew. "We taught him that back when he was only a chick, and that's all he's bothered to learn." Bartholomew pointed. Remus turned and saw a red and blue parrot near the front window, preening himself and watching the newcomer peevishly. "Well, what can I do you for?"

"Oh," faltered Lupin, forgetting for a moment why he was even in a barbershop. "I'd, um, like my hair cut, please." It pained him to say this. He'd had his chin-length light brown locks ever since he was eleven years old, and he'd grown quite used to them. Having them cut off would be a large change. Hopefully large enough that no one he knew would recognize him.

"All right, then," said Barber Bartholomew. He indicated to the one lonely chair. "Have a seat. I'll have those mangy locks clipped in a jiffy." Remus winced. His hair was not mangy!

Barber Bartholomew snipped and cut for almost ten minutes. He pronounced, "Ta-da!" and pulled off the barber's cape with a flourish. Remus' hair was short. It curled nicely around his face, and, he had to admit, didn't look too bad. Pleased, he fingered several strands, trying to get used to them. "You look like a different person. The ladies will love you," proclaimed Bartholomew. Lupin smiled bitterly. Ladies. Who had time for ladies? He needed to escape ladies, and friends, a coworkers, and associates. He was already a wolf. Might as well be a lone one.

Remus left the shop and conjured up a pair of horn-rimmed glasses to complete his disguise. He caught a glimpse of himself in a shop window. I actually look pretty different, he thought to himself. But he knew that wandering the streets wasn't a very good idea. After all, he had to eat and sleep. He needed to make some money. But what shop would hire a man who turned into a werewolf once a month?

Loud shouts rang out from Honeydukes' candy store. A fat man in a very dirty white apron appeared at the door, screaming at a smaller, mousey-looking man. Remus blinked his eyes in disbelief. Peter?

But no, it wasn't Peter. He could see that now. This man had black hair, as opposed to Peter's dishwater blond. The black-haired man cowered before the man in the apron. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'll never do it again!" he cried, tears glistening in his eyes.

"You told me that last time! That's it! You're fired!" roared the man, who was clearly the owner of Honeydukes.

"F-fired? But you can't fire me! I need this job!" wailed the other.

"Yeah, and I need profits! Now get out of my sight before I hex you into oblivion!" the Honeydukes owner hollered.

The black-haired man whimpered and scrambled, half-walking, half-crawling down the street. The owner sighed in disgust and wiped his hands on his apron. "Bloody lazy worker," he muttered to himself. 

Remus had never been one to step down from an opportunity. He quickened his pace and moved towards the man. "Sir? What happened?" asked Remus.

"It's just that new guy," complained the owner. "He's worked here two weeks, and already he's eaten me out of a whole month's worth of fizzing whizbees! I ask you, how hard is it to get decent help these days? Now I've got to try and hire someone else. We're already short workers."

Remus saw his chance and seized it. "Actually, I myself am looking for work. You wouldn't consider hiring me, would you?" he asked hopefully.

The man wrinkled his brow and gazed Lupin up and down. "You look like a real studious lad. You got a name?"

Lupin thought fast. He couldn't give the man his real name. "Er - Roger Lewis," he said quickly.

"Lewis, eh? Haven't heard of your family. New to the area?"

Remus wished he'd stop asking questions. "Sort of."

"Well, normally I wouldn't go hiring some random guy off the street, but you look like a decent man, and hell, I'm desperate. All right then. When can you start?" asked the owner.

"How about now?" suggested Remus.

"Eager little fellow, aren't you?" chuckled the owner, who seemed much more pleasant now that he'd found a new employee. "Well, all right, Lewis. Come on inside. The name's Lucas."

"Thank you, Lucas," said Remus gratefully. As he stepped inside, he could hear voices in the back of his head.

"What are you doing, Mooney? You're the smartest blighter I know, and you're working in a candy store? Come on, man, have some pride," said Sirius disgustedly.

"Honestly, Lupin. You shouldn't waste your time here. At least try and get in somewhere you'll be appreciated. What about Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley?" suggested James helpfully.

"Yeah, Mooney. You're better than this!" agreed Peter.

"Besides, Remus, why are you hiding? All Dumbledore wanted to do was help you. Don't turn away help when it's needed," urged Lily's voice.

Remus shook his head. A lump the size of a large cockroach cluster had formed in the back of his throat. He didn't need to cry now, of all times! Ignoring the voices of his former friends, he took an apron from Lucas and stepped behind the counter. It was time for his new life to begin. 


End file.
